Gms Realty

Owners of the 114-year-old carousel in Seaport Village plan to auction the relic to the highest bidder to pay taxes and bolster their cash reserves. The Broadway Flying Horse Carousel, whose 175-pipe organ, 40 horses and three dogs and goats have entertained tourists at the harbor site since 1980, will be sold from the estate of the late Morris Taubman, who built Seaport Village.

Contradicting a Times report that the NFL has all but eliminated the Carson site from stadium consideration, a league representative said Monday that the NFL has not given up on the possibility of building there. "We are continuing to investigate Carson, as well as other potential sites in the Los Angeles area that would be suitable for a potential state-of-the-art stadium," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

Burnham Pacific Properties Inc., one of the largest owners of strip malls on the West Coast, agreed to sell 19 shopping centers in California to closely held GMS Realty for $305 million in cash. GMS, based in Carlsbad, Calif., operates neighborhood and community shopping centers in California and Arizona. The sale is part of Burnham's announced liquidation plan, the company said in a news release. Burnham and GMS weren't immediately available for comment.

GMS Realty terminated an agreement to purchase 19 properties from retail real estate company Burnham Pacific Properties Inc. for $305 million. "The numbers just didn't quite work out for us," said William Gerrity, president of Carlsbad-based GMS. The agreement with GMS was one of three entered by Burnham to liquidate the company. It still has a liquidation services agreement with DDR Real Estate Services Inc. and a purchase and sale agreement with Prudential Insurance Co. of America.

Competition among shopping centers in the Los Angeles area will get only tougher in the years ahead--developers have unveiled plans for two giant retail projects in the San Fernando Valley and the South Bay. Los Angeles-based mall titan Westfield America plans to add nearly 600,000 square feet of retail space, including some free-standing buildings, at its Westfield Shoppingtown Topanga in the west San Fernando Valley.

St. James Apartments LLC bought the 298-unit St. James Apartments at 1710 N. Fuller Ave. in Los Angeles for $36 million from GTS Property. Shane Astani of Lambert Smith Hampton represented the buyer and the seller. * The law firm Katten Muchin Zavis signed a nine-year, $20-million sublease for 52,058 square feet of office space at 2029 Century Park E. in Century City. The sublandlord, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, was represented by Mike Catalano of Julien J. Studley Inc.

Pasadena officials met in New York on Wednesday with NFL executives and left feeling their bid to bring a pro football team to the Rose Bowl is back on track. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue attended the two-hour meeting, as did Chief Operating Officer Roger Goodell, who oversees all stadium issues. Joining investment banker John Moag and Rose Bowl General Manager Darryl Dunn for the meeting were Pasadena City Manager Cynthia Kurtz and Finance Director Jay Goldstone.

* Shurflo Pump Manufacturing, a maker of beverage-dispensing equipment, signed a $25-million, 10-year lease for a three-building, 231,618-square-foot headquarters to be built at Warland Cypress Business Center at the southwest corner of Katella Avenue and Valley View Street in Cypress.

The battle over the Broadway Flying Horses Carousel is over. Or is it? The auction of the 114-year-old amusement ride Saturday, which sparked a transcontinental bidding war between groups seeking to own one of the country's oldest carousels, was decided with a bid of $650,000. But there's a twist. The winning bidder was absent, represented only through an agent holding a cellular phone.